John Sowalsky was born in Washington, DC and has spent most of his life in Montgomery County, MD. He is a graduate of Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, MD, and studied cultural anthropology at Marlboro College and music composition at Catholic University. He has earned his livelihood in fields as diverse as database design and dishwashing, and is currently the office manager for a private school in Potomac, MD. His writing has encompassed stage plays, short stories, verse, essays, technical writing, and blogging. He is also a composer, a drummer, a used record dealer, and a very proud uncle twice over. John is a noted authority on snake oils. His top-secret formula for powdered water is nearly complete, and he continues to develop new cultivars of magic bean. He resides in Gaithersburg, MD with his trusty cat, Annie, enjoys musty old books, crusty old music, and dusty old movies.